A quick tour of Montreal’s Chinatown

Several days ago I posted some photos from Montreal’s Chinese lantern exhibit at the botanical gardens. But before I saw the lanterns, I stumbled upon Chinatown. My sisters-in-law and I were in Old Montreal, headed up to Schwartz’s deli, when I spotted a pagoda-like structure off in the distance. If you look carefully, you can see it perched upon a white building in the center of the photo. (The pagoda and white building are part of a Holiday Inn.)

So we headed up Saint Laurent Boulevard and followed the pagoda. Soon we came to one of several gates.

Montreal’s Chinatown started out as a Jewish neighborhood. This tall building dates back to 1850, but the area didn’t become Chinatown for another 70 years or so. Today many of the restaurants and shops are run by Hong Kong and Vietnamese Chinese. It felt quite refreshing to hear Cantonese on the street.

I spotted this gate on a side street off of Saint Laurent.

This building wasn’t on a corner, which makes the round door even more spectacular. It was my favorite building in Chinatown.

While Chinatown in Montreal is just a fraction of the size of Vancouver’s, it was still delightful and worth the quick trip up Saint Laurent.